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BUSINESS
IN BRIEF 4/11
Woodwork,
furniture fair targets home market for domestic products
The annual Viet Nam
Furniture and Home Furnishing Fair, to be held in HCM City next week, aims to
promote locally made furniture, home decor, and handicraft products in the
domestic market.
Huynh Van Hanh, the
Handicraft and Wood Industry Association of HCM City (Hawa)'s standing vice
chairman, said VIFA Home 2014 has attracted 115 local and foreign firms
involved in wood processing, interior decoration, and consulting, an increase
of 20 per cent from last year.
On display will be
outdoor and indoor furniture, handicrafts and home decor, household
appliances, garden decor, support services, gifts, souvenirs, handicraft
items, and materials for the wood processing industry.
With the Vietnamese
housing market yet to recover, the furniture and home decor industry faces
difficulties, and their domestic sales is expected to only increase
marginally from last year's US$1.9 billion, Hanh said.
From next year,
when the ASEAN Economic Community comes into effect, local producers would
face fierce competition even in the domestic market, he said.
To remain
competitive, firms need to map out long-term business strategies and improve
product quality and customer service among other measures, he said.
The fair would
offer them a good chance to study consumer tastes and expand their
distribution network in the domestic market, he said.
Exports of wood and
wood products were worth $4.44 billion in the first nine months of the year,
and are expected to top $6.5 billion this year, he said.
VIFA Home 2014,
organised by Hawa, will be held at the Tan Binh Exhibition and Convention
Centre from November 6 to 9.
Vietnamese and
Egyptian businesses should participate in trade fairs and investment
promotion conferences in their respective countries to establish direct
partnerships and avoid risks associated with third party go-betweens.
Dao Thanh Chung,
the Vietnamese Ambassador to
Chung said untapped
co-operation opportunities awaited the business communities of
Adel Aref of the
Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce cited a lack of market
information as one of the biggest barriers for Egyptian companies who wanted
to invest in the Southeast Asian country.
He stressed the
importance of frequently organising economic conferences where Egyptian
companies could receive the latest information on business opportunities in
Some Egyptian
businesses at the event showed interests in importing frozen seafood products
from
In spite of
significant progress in bilateral trade from 2009 to 2012, trade volume
decreased sharply by 24 per cent in 2013 following political unrest in
However, Vietnamese
exports to Egypt have rebounded to US$200 million since the beginning of this
year and are expected to exceed $300 million by year-end, with key export
items including seafood; agricultural products such as pepper, cashew nuts
and coffee; automotive spare parts; and cellphones and components.
Malaysia-VN
trade to reach $10b
Bilateral trade
value between
Malaysian
Ambassador to Viet Nam Datuk Azmil Mohammed Zabidi made this statement after
attending a dinner with the Malaysian contingent to the ASEAN Skills
Competition here last Monday.
Datuk told Bernama
that although the trade value seemed small, it was an encouraging figure
since
The Viet Nam News
Agency quoted the ambassador as saying trade ties between the two countries
should be further enhanced to enable
Datuk revealed that
Malaysian companies
seeking foreign labour should turn to
With a population
of about 90 million,
"In fact,
Malaysian companies are involved in about 450 projects worth $11 billion,
either wholly owned or on a joint venture basis," he noted.
He revealed that
currently, about 1,500 Malaysian entrepreneurs were registered with the
Malaysian Embassy in
Azmil added that
apart from enhancing trade and investment between both countries, the embassy
was also ironing out constraints faced by Malaysian companies operating in
Tax talks
highlight policy deficiencies
Difficulties in tax
and customs policies topped the agenda of the dialogue that the Ministry of
Finance (MoF) and Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) conducted
with enterprises yesterday.
The annual event,
which aims to provide the business community with latest information on tax
and customs issues, drew the participation of a large number of companies and
was considered the most frank and open meeting between State officials and
enterprises concerning solutions to problems and difficulties facing
enterprises.
This was the
opportunity for enterprises to have a direct dialogue with the leaders of the
MoF, as well as customs and taxation administrators.
At the dialogue,
Doan Duy Khuong, VCCI deputy chairman, said the Government was actively
promoting economic restructuring and growth to speed up the country's
socio-economic development and international integration.
Khuong added that
Besides
implementating World Trade Organisation commitments and free trade
agreements,
Also, with the
establishment of the ASEAN economic community next year,
Deputy Finance
Minister Do Hoang Anh Tuan said the dialogue was one of the annual MoF
activities that aimed to help businesses overcome difficulties in tax and
customs declarations, as well as assist the MoF in collecting petitions from
businesses to effectively reform administrative procedures in the field of taxes
and customs.
Tuan told
participants that although the economic growth rate increased by 5.8 per cent
year-on-year, an estimated 57,000 businesses were either dissolved or
suspended operations because of difficulties in business performance. Only 29
per cent of businesses are profitable, he added.
Tuan said the
number of exporters remained unchanged, and the foreign direct investment
sector remained the largest contributor to export turnover at 66 per cent.
Viet Nam's ongoing
trade negotiations are expected to bring advantages as well as challenges, he
added, and urged participants to discuss good policies as well as
difficulties with current mechanisms and make recommendations that would
assist businesses in overcoming challenges.
Cao Anh Tuan,
deputy director of the General Department of Taxation (GDT), provided updates
on tax policy, tax administration and measures to ease difficulties of
corporate and individual taxpayers.
To help taxpayers
overcome difficulties, the MoF, GDT and Government have issued circulars,
decrees and dispatches. In addition, the MoF has submitted to the Government
and the National Assembly a draft law on Special Consumption Tax and
supplemented five laws on VAT, as well as corporate income tax, personal
income tax, resource tax and tax administration.
The amendments are
also related to the limit on expenses for advertising, marketing, trade,
promotion and reception, and are expected to cut about 80 hours of
administrative tax and customs procedures.
Regarding tax
reform implementation, an estimated 416,689 enterprises, accounting for 85.5
per cent of the total number, have so far filed electronic tax declarations,
and it is expected that by the end of this year, about 95 per cent of
businesses will file electronic tax declarations.
The GDT has worked
with Vietcombank and Agribank, as well as
Vu Ngoc Anh, GDT
deputy general director, provided updates on the new contents of the Customs
Law which the National Assembly passed last June and which will take effect
in January.
Pham Thi Loan,
chief executive officer of Viet A Group, said customs authorities needed to
review their performance after post-clearance inspection to generate
incentives for businesses.
Loan revealed that
her company imported optical cable for the domestic electronics and
telecommunications industry with identification numbers at zero per cent.
However, customs authorities applied a three-per cent tax on her company.
She noted that the
post-clearance inspection aimed to avoid trade fraud by companies, but
authorities' performance has made it more difficult for businesses.
Loan also submitted
her petition calling on agencies to effectively improve procedures for
handling complaints from businesses and thoroughly review the tariff list to
avoid saddling businesses with concerns and losses.
Nguyen Hoai
NA urges
faster SOE restructuring
Lawmakers are
asking the Government to speed up the restructuring of State-owned enterprises,
the banking sector and public investment to boost economic growth.
This came out in a
report that Nguyen Van Giau, chairman of the National Assembly Committee on
Economic Affairs, presented on Saturday.
The report of the
NA Standing Committee on the supervision of the economic restructuring
process, which is part of NA's Resolution 10/2011/QH13 on the socio-economic
development plan for 2011 to 2015, said economic restructuring in the last
three years had generated results but were still below expectations.
The NA noted that
from 2011 to 2014, the Government cut 1,550 projects and restructured 272
State-owned enterprises. From 2011 to 2013, the Government was also able to
divest about VND3.94 trillion (US$185.5 million) from State-owned enterprises.
However, the NA
added that the implementation of some reforms was still slower than expected
as restructuring policies were not effective enough.
In addition, the
Government had not made a comprehensive assessment of the economy and a lack
of co-ordination still existed between parties in the restructuring process,
it added.
Average economic
growth from 2011 to 2015 is expected to reach only 5.78 per cent, which is
lower than the Government target of 6.5 to seven per cent. Trade surplus is
unsustainable because of domestic companies' struggle in production and
consequent reduction of imports.
The economy's
competitiveness has yet to be enhanced and labour productivity remains low,
according to the NA Standing Committee.
State budget
overspending remains high, with total debt under basic construction from the
State budget and government bonds as of August 30 estimated to be about
VND44,594 billion (about $2.1 billion).
Deputy Nguyen Thi
Kha of
He added that those
drawbacks came as enterprise leaders were not bold enough in their actions,
thus asking the Government to eliminate the negative influence of interest
groups and hold State-owned enterprises accountable.
Regarding the
banking system, the NA Standing Committee said the rapid rise in the number
of commercial banks in recent years had caused instability, as it had not
been accompanied by enhanced governance.
Deputy Trinh Ngoc
Phuong of
Public investment
also came under the spotlight as a number of deputies noted that the sector
was plagued with problems such as over-diversification, inefficiency and
inadequate supervision over construction.
Deputies Nguyen Van
Hien of Ba Ria-Vung Tau and Do Manh Hung of
Regarding public
investment, lawmaker Y Khut Nie of
Some NA members
revealed that the amount of debt under capital construction could be higher
than 44 trillion dong, and a clearer assessment was needed of such debts.
Others wanted the
Government to take note of a series of construction projects that cost
trillions of dong but have yet to achieve their full potential, causing
public uproar and a slowdown in the fight against corruption.
Hien said
restructuring companies also meant restructuring staff management at State
agencies and their responsibilities.
Investment and
Planning Minister Bui Quang Vinh admitted that the process still faced major
hurdles, and areas of restructuring could take many years. He suggested that
the Government order each ministry and sector to develop their own
restructuring plans. The lawmakers observed that the Government needed to
intensify its anti-corruption efforts and further reform administrative
procedures to enhance the efficiency of public investment projects.
Deposit
rate cut has little effect
Le Ngoc Huong of
She says she dare
not invest the money in anything else because of the high risk involved.
Analysts say most
of the idle money remains in banks even after the State Bank of
After the move,
most lenders including small and medium-sized ones, have slashed their
deposit interest rates. Asia Commercial Bank for instance reduced its rates
for one- and two-month deposits from 5.3 per cent to 4.9 per cent and for
three and nine months to 5.1 and 6 per cent.
Orient Commercial
Joint Stock Bank has also cut interest rates on short-term deposits, but this
has had no impact on mobilization, according to deputy general director
Truong Dinh Long.
"[This] year
the bank's deposits have increased by 11 per cent," he told Dau Tu Chung
Khoan (Securities Investment) newspaper.
He attributed it to
the fact that other asset classes like property, stocks, gold, and foreign
currencies are not attractive yet.
With inflation
being contained at a rather low level (estimated at 3-4 per cent for this
year), depositors enjoy a positive real interest rate even after the rate on
short-term deposits was cut to 5.5 per cent and on longer term deposits to
6-8 per cent per year, he said.
Trinh Minh Thao,
Techcombank's head of retail banking in the south, concurred, adding that
many people now preferred long-term deposits on which rates are 1-1.5 per
cent higher than for short terms.
Vietcombank has always
taken the initiative in cutting interest rates yet its deposits had increased
by 17.67 per cent as of late September, according to its general director
Nghiem Xuan Thanh.
Its interest rate
now stands at 4.3-5 per cent for one- and three-month deposits and at 6.3 per
cent for 24 months, he said.
According to the
central bank, as of October 24 deposits had grown by 11.88 per cent this
year.
After lowering the
interest rate cap for short-term deposits, the central bank called on
State-owned banks to reduce their lending interest rates for five priority
sectors, and lenders have responded positively.
Deputy general
director of Vietcombank, Nguyen Danh Luong, said last week his bank had
lowered the interest rate on short-term loans to the five priority sectors
from 8 per cent to 7 per cent.
"Vietcombank
is ready to tweak its profit plans in a way that … also supports
businesses."
BIDV general
director Tran Xuan Hoang said that in the last three years his bank has
always taken the initiative to share businesses' difficulties by cutting loan
interest rates though that hit its bottom line.
"In response
to the central bank's call, BIDV would continue to adjust lending interest
rates."
OCB deputy general
director Dinh Duc Quang said he supported the central bank's policy of
lowering lending interest rates.
"Though the
economy shows signs of recovery, domestic enterprises still face with many
difficulties. So, lower lending interest rates would create conditions for
the businesses to develop their production and business activities."
Dr. Tran Du Lich, a
member of the National Monetary and Financial Policy Advisory Council, said
the cut in lending rates, particularly for medium- and long-term loans, would
have a positive impact on the economy.
According to HSBC,
the cut in the deposit rate cap is part of the central bank's efforts to
boost credit growth, which is expected to accelerate by year end.
PetroVietnam
told to finish refinery plan
Deputy Prime
Minister Hoang Trung Hai has asked the Viet Nam National Oil and Gas Group
(PetroVietnam) to complete the Dung Quat Oil Refinery expansion project
proposal, reports news portal Vneconomy.
According to the
Deputy PM's order, PetroVietnam is responsible for giving full explanation
for the urgency of the project, and for evaluating and comparing the
efficiency of different measures that can be taken to expand the oil
refinery.
Hai also asked
PetroVietnam to calculate the efficiency of the expansion if the project is
granted investment priority, and in case it is not.
He suggested that
PetroVietnam should consider adding a crude oil storage facility to the
expansion project.
The project
proposal must be submitted to the Ministry of Industries and Trade (MoIT) for
further examination before November 11.
The MoIT has been
asked to set up a committee with representatives from the relevant branches
and the Quang Ngai People's Committee to scrutinise the Dung Quat oil
refinery expansion project, and report to the Prime Minister in November.
The People's
Committee has also been asked to be ready with its plans for land clearance,
resettlement and compensation for local residents, to allow implementation of
the project as soon as the proposal is approved.
Once the expansion
project is completed, the Dung Quat oil refinery's capacity will be increased
to 10 million tonnes of crude oil input per year from the current level of
6.5 million tonnes.
This move is
included in the scheme to develop petrochemicals because if the input is
maintained at 6.5 million tonnes, the output will be about 6 million tonnes,
and hence, there will be almost no raw material for petrochemicals.
The investment for
the expansion project is estimated to be US$1.8 million to $2 billion.
PetroVietnam is
also discussing the sale of 49 per cent of the shares of the oil refinery to
foreign partners, including Gazprom Group of
Garment
sector restyles production model
The move comes in
the light of advantages offered by the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) and
other free trade agreements that the country has entered into with regional
trade blocs around the world.
Le Tien Truong,
Viet Nam Textiles and Garment Group (Vinatex) general director, said that
after years of manufacturing processed products, enterprises had gained much
experience in manufacturing, management and labour.
This wealth of
experience serves as a foundation for enterprises to shift to FOB (freight on
board) and original design manufacturer (ODM) models, according to the
general director.
Vinatex is
determined to apply as soon as possible the ODM model, which will allow the
company to define the chain linkage of dye-textile-garment and improve its
business effectiveness index.
The group will
review and improve operations to meet production targets for the domestic and
international markets.
Nguyen Xuan Duong,
management board chairman of Hung Yen Garment Corporation Joint Stock
Company, said that to be able to produce with the ODM model, concerned
sectors such as textiles, garments and dyes had to develop at the same time.
However, the
garments and textiles sector was weak in three areas: product development, marketing
and chain linkage. To develop the ODM model, businesses must overcome these
weaknesses, especially marketing, as well as clarify targets for the sector
and draft a material industry development plan.
Dang Phuong Dung,
general secretary of the Viet Nam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS),
said that in spite of the high export turnover, the added value remained
modest.
This was attributed
to sectoral dependence on imported materials, as the country could only
provide 1 per cent of demand for cotton and 20.2 per cent of demand for
textiles.
Although the sector
could produce six million fibre bundles each year, only 30 per cent of the
fibre bundles could be used because quality remains below standard.
Sectoral
participation in the global supply chain is considered passive, according to
Dung. The sector is mainly focused on manufacturing processed products and
lacks product model designers. Businesses that produce processed products are
also passive in seeking and expanding markets.
Ho Thi Kim Thoa,
deputy industry and trade minister, said the current world trend in garments
included the development of a package supply chain and e-commerce trading,
both of which remained a challenge to
In line with this,
the MoIT last April approved a garments and textiles development plan from
2020 to 2030 that aims to make the sector a key export industry and enable it
to meet increasing domestic demand, create more jobs, enhance competitiveness
and firmly integrate with the regional and international economy.
In the past few
years, the sector has been relentless in improving the investment
environment, granting preferential policies, expanding co-operation and
luring capital.
Separate free trade
agreements that
A seminar was held
in
The Viet Nam Trade
Office in
At the event,
Nguyen Thang Long, Head of the Viet Nam Trade Office in
The positive
outcome laid a solid foundation for the future development of comprehensive
co-operation between the two nations, explained Long.
In addition, he
stressed the need to offer the Slovakian business community with more
up-to-date information on
For his part, Juraj
Majtan, director of
Vietnamese products
gained a strong foothold in the Slovakian market in recent years, according
to Vietnamese Ambassador to Slovakia Ho Dac Minh Nguyet.
Miroslav Lajcak,
Slovakian deputy prime minister and concurrent foreign and European affairs
minister, will pay an official visit to
Deposit
rate cut boosts optimism
Investors were
upbeat over news of the State Bank of
Last Wednesday, the
SBV decided to lower the ceiling interest rates on Vietnamese dong deposits
from six per cent to 5.5 per cent and on US dollar deposits from one per cent
to 0.75 per cent.
This is the second
time that the SBV has slashed regulatory interest rates this year.
According to Dang
Bao Khanh, general director of SeABank, this decision will likely bring
investment to other channels, including the securities market.
"The stock
market will receive new capital investment flows, though not surging, as the
economy is still undergoing difficulties," Khanh said.
Many experts also
agree that the SBV decision will have a positive impact on the Vietnamese
stock markets because stock prices usually moved in a direction opposite that
of interest rates.
At the HCM City
Stock Exchange, the benchmark VN-Index once more increased by more than 600
points, adding a cumulative 1.58 per cent during the week to close at 600.84
points.
Blue chips
recovered as the VN30, which tracks the top 30 shares by market value and
liquidity, improved by 1.47 per cent to finish at 638.78 points.
Ocean Group
rebounded late last week after several declining sessions due to the arrest
and detention of its former leader.
Other large-cap
shares were actively traded, including PV Gas, Masan Group, Bao Viet Holdings
and Vietcombank, as well as Sacombank and Vietinbank.
Liquidity improved
slightly compared with that of the previous week, with daily market volume
increasing by more than eight per cent to an average of 110 million shares
worth VND1.874 trillion ($88.8 million) per session.
Foreign investors
ended their eight-week selling streak and returned as net buyers in the
They were
responsible for a total net purchase of more than VND375 billion ($17.8
million), focusing on blue chips such as PetroVietnam Drilling and Wells
Service, Kinh Do Corp and Hoa Phat Group.
They remained net
sellers in the Ha Noi market but with a small value of just VND26 billion
($1.2 million).
Foreign purchases
are important to the recovery of the market, which could decline during some
sessions this week but is necessary to test the demand and determine the
trading trend of foreigners, according to analysts at FPT Securities Company.
At the Ha Noi Stock
Exchange, the HNX-Index also climbed by 1.14 per cent to end at 88.03 points,
but trading volume decreased by more than 14 per cent from that of the
previous week, averaging 51.4 million shares worth more than VND725 billion
($34.4 million).
Mobile
World hits yearly target in 9 months
Giant mobile phone
retailer Mobile World Investment Corporation announced on Friday that it had
achieved the full year profit target in just nine months.
At a media briefing
in
MWG chairman and
CEO Nguyen Duc Tai hailed the contribution made by online sales.
"The revenue
from online business in nine months was over VND608 billion ($29 million),
double the figure for the whole of 2013. By the end of this year the revenue
is expected to be over VND800 billion ($38 million)."
During the period
in review the company opened 60 more stores. In October only, 28 stores were
opened nation-wide.
Tai said
thegioididong.com has a market share of 28-30 per cent and would stop
expanding when it reaches 40 per cent.
MWG plans to focus
on developing its consumer electronics and home supplies chain dienmay.com
next and targets leadership of that market too with a share of 8-10 per cent.
SBV moves
to increase VAMC charter capital
The State Bank of
Viet Nam (SBV) has asked the Government to increase the charter capital of
Viet Nam Asset Management Company (VAMC).
SBV Deputy Governor
Nguyen Thi Hong made the announcement, saying the move aims to enhance the
company's financial capacity to buy and sell bad debts at prevailing market
prices.
VAMC's current
charter capital is VND500 billion (US$23.58 million), which is just modest in
comparison with the total non-performing debts that the company has to deal
with.
SBV figures showed
that in the first 10 months of 2014, VAMC bought bad debts worth around
VND125 trillion ($5.9 billion) and resold bad debts worth VND4 trillion
($190.4 million) to the public. There was a proposal to increase the VAMC
charter capital to VND2 trillion.
The figures also
showed that from time the project to resolve bad debts in the Vietnamese
banking system was implemented in 2012, the country's bad debt ratio was
reduced from 17 per cent, at VND460 trillion, to 5.43 per cent, at VND252
trillion.
Hong said the SBV
and credit institutions differed in the way they accounted for bad debts,
resulting in conflicting figures.
Reports of credit
institutions showed that the bad debt ratio had declined from 4.17 per cent
by end-June to 3.88 per cent by end-September.
The SBV said
regulations on VAMC operations that restricted the company from using the
State budget to resolve bad debts were placed under review to reduce the
company's difficulties.
Mastercard
looks at local non-cash payment sector
Arn Vogels, the
card company's Indochina director, said
"With the
increasing e-commerce and the popular use of smart phones, non-cash payment
will surely become indispensable here," he told the media on Wednesday.
"We consider
There are around
30,000 taxis operated by scores of companies in the country, but only each
one in
The country's half
million small and medium-sized enterprises and micro businesses and direct
sales and insurance companies are also untapped opportunities for non-cash
payment.
The number of
merchants accepting cards in
But the network was
growing quickly, he said, citing statistics from the Vietnam Bankers
Association showing there were more than 132,000 merchants and 15,000 ATMs as
of June end.
The State Bank of
Speaking about the
challenges to popularising non-cash payment, he said even government
disbursements like unemployment allowance were still in cash, which was
discouraging.
The process of
promoting non-cash payments and expanding the merchants' network could not be
achieved overnight and would take time and joint efforts by the Government,
service providers, and consumers, he said.
Nguyen Hoa Binh,
chairman of e-commerce solutions provider Peacesoft, whose subsidiary MPOS
Tech Vietnam recently began producing mobile card readers — which are now
much cheaper than traditional ones — said since the installation and
operation of a merchant network was expensive, banks were wary of investing
in it. This, in turn, entrenched people's habit of using cash.
With few non-cash
transactions, the investments they had made naturally result in losses,
making banks wary even more.
Another hurdle to
popularising non-cash payments was the fear of theft through hacking and
phishing attacks.
Nguyen Minh Khang,
who works for a foreign company in
"When I return
home, I get the bank to lock my card until the next trip. My account has been
stolen several times," he told Viet Nam News.
"Each time it
was a sum of around US$10. So complaining for such a small amount is not
worth the effort. But I can't let it go on like that and so I have my account
locked when I come back home."
He pointed out that
small sums add up to significant amounts especially if stolen from many
cards.
Links between
businesses in
Le Hoang Quan,
chairman of the HCM City People's Committee, said under the programme, 520
contracts worth more than VND19 trillion (US$894.7 million) had been signed
between city businesses and companies in the southeastern and southwestern
regions.
Of the total,
Quan was speaking
yesterday at a meeting in
Every day, three
wholesale markets in the city receive an average of 8,000 tonnes of farm
produce and food products transported to localities.
Truong Quang Hoai
He said that
farmers and animal breeders were now more willing to make investments to
supply quality products at reasonable prices to
Do Thang Hai,
deputy minister of Industry and Trade, praised the achievements of the
programme but urged HCM City and other cities and provinces to identify
potential businesses to improve product quality and brand building.
Other goals include
the prevention and control of fake products and trade fraud, as well as the
development of hygienic brands, he said.
The meeting also
included linkages between producers and distributors. More than 1,100
producers, distributors, wholesale markets, restaurants, hotels, and eateries
from 38 areas nationwide have participated.
Le Ngoc Dao, deputy
director of the Department of Industry and Trade, said the linkages help
provide outlets for companies' products.
Distributors
provide businesses and co-operatives with necessary information about quality
standards required by the city's distribution system, Dao said.
More and more
businesses have joined in the programme, she added.
Last year, 23
provinces and 347 companies attended the second event, with 229 contracts
signed. In 2012, 14 provinces and 198 businesses took part.
At the event
yesterday, 347 contracts were signed between producers and supermarkets,
wholesale markets, and distributors like Co-opmart, Citimart, Maximark and
Big C.
Nguyen Thi Hanh,
Saigon Co.op general director, said Saigon Co.op had created favourable
conditions to help producers sell their products to its retail chain.
Under contracts
signed with local producers, the company in the past year helped companies
make better, safer, well-packaged products at reasonable prices.
Phan Thanh Binh,
general director of Bich Chi Food Company, said distributors who had signed
contracts with the company offered instruction in food hygiene and safety
processes, and packaging of products. Beginning next year, when the ASEAN Economic
Community comes into effect, local producers are expected to face fierce
competition in the domestic market.
Developing closer
linkages in production and trading would be vital for local companies, Quan
said.
Japan
organises ICT fair in Ha Noi
Japan ICT Day
opened in Ha Noi on Thursday, with a focus on cooperation between
Held as part of the
2014 Asian-Oceania Computing Industry Organisation (ASOCIO) ICT Summit, the
event, which is now in its eighth year, attracted nearly 100 representatives
from 47 Japanese businesses, the largest number since beginning in 2007.
It was also
attended by companies from the
According to a
report by Japan's Information-Technology Promotion Agency, Viet Nam is
Japan's second largest ICT partner and the most favored partner among
Japanese businesses, said 31.5 per cent of those questioned.
In addition to
cultural similarities, abundant and cheap labour also makes
Nguyen Doan Hung,
head of the Viet Nam-Japan Information Technology Cooperation Club, said the
Japanese Government and IT groups planned to carry out a number of large
projects by 2020, requiring a large skilled workforce. This was seen as a
favorable opportunity for
In order to partner
with
Further, Japanese
businesses visited the central city of
In a separate
development on Wednesday,
The companies said
that the aim of the partnership was to support restructuring in the
agricultural sector to make Viet
The agreement was
signed in Ha Noi on Thursday by
Comprising 23
articles and one appendix, the agreement replaced the one signed on November
14, 1977.
The new agreement
is expected to meet the travel demands of both peoples, contributing to the
traditional friendship between the two countries.
Earlier,
representatives from the Ministry of Transport and DPRK Ministry of Foreign
Trade held a meeting to discuss how to further improve bilateral cooperation
on aviation issues in the future.
Can Tho to
upgrade industrial parks
The Cuu Long
(Mekong) Delta city of
The master plan
aims to increase Can Tho's total industrial area to 2.267ha and pave the way
for Can Tho to become an industrial hub in the Cuu Long (
Thanks to the city's
efforts to implement a number of special policies on administrative
procedures, preferential credit, and training workers, capital investment in
industrial clusters has reached US$1.91 billion so far in 2014, a $50 million
increase compared to the same period last year.
To date, Can Tho is
home to 214 investment projects, including 191 domestic and 23
foreign-invested projects.
During the first
ten months of this year, revenue from enterprises operating in the city's
industrial parks totalled $1.1 billion. Notably, foreign invested-companies
posted increases of 10 per cent and 13 per cent in turnover and exports,
respectively, compared to the same period last year.
Vietnamese
delegation attended the ASEAN Forum on Social Entrepreneurship in
Over 80 policy
makers and representatives of non-governmental organisations from the 10
ASEAN member states discussed the role of social entrepreneurship and talked
about putting in place best practices and a joint vision for the development
of social enterprises.
At the event, the
head of the Vietnamese delegation delivered a speech on the current state of
social entrepreneurship in
Singaporean
Minister for Social and Family Development Chan Chun Sing affirmed the
increasing recognition of social entrepreneurship as a potential solution to
societal needs, along with the efforts undertaken by the Government, the
private sector and charitable organisations.
FPT IS wins
$1.4m Philippine contract
FPT Information System
Company (FPT IS) beat six international contractors to win a US$1.4-million
bid to provide a management system for complaints and denunciations for the
Philippine government.
The contract was
signed on October 27 in
The tender is part
of a financial support package given by the
The Vietnamese firm
will co-operate with the Philippine government to build a database of
complaints and denunciations, and speed up their processes. The management
system is expected to be implemented in 10 months in the country's government
agencies.
This is the first
time that FPT IS has won a bid in this market, raising its total number of
tenders this year to 14, worth a total of $26.4 million.
In November, the
firm will open a representative office in the
FPT IS Global
General Director Le Anh Tuan said that the
Earlier, the
company announced on September 9 that it would provide an integrated tax
administration system for
Viettel builds
3G network in Tanzania
The military
telecom group Viettel today started building a third-generation (3G) mobile
network in
The network is
expected to become operational in July 2015 after its 13,000-km fibre-optic
cable broadband system is completed, according to Tanzanian Minister of
Communication, Science and Technology January Makamba.
By 2016, Viettel's
services are hoped to cover around 4,000 local villages currently without the
Internet.
Besides, the firm
will offer low-cost smartphones and free Internet access for local schools,
hospitals and offices.
In the neighbouring
country of
Source: VEF/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/Dantri/VIR
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Thứ Hai, 3 tháng 11, 2014
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